TRUMBULL COUNTY Man free on bond in vehicle attack

The defendant is charged with attempted murder and felonious assault. By PEGGY SINKOVICH VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF WARREN -- A 34-year-old Girard man accused of running over a woman in a field near a Liberty Township grocery store is free on bond. Judge John Stuard of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, who denied a motion to lower Anthony V. Ciminero's $1 million bond last week, agreed Thursday to allow Ciminero to post a $200,000 bond. Ken Bailey, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, did not object to the bond reduction because defense attorneys agreed Ciminero would go to a treatment center. Ciminero's family had planned to post his $1 million bond Thursday, court officials said. Prosecutors said if Ciminero would have been released on the $1 million bond, there would have been no restrictions placed on him. Attys. Roger Bauer and Maridee Costanzo, who represent Ciminero, wanted their client released so he could get help. "It is our understanding that once he left the jail with his family, he was going to the treatment center," Costanzo said. The charges Ciminero is charged with attempted murder and felonious assault. He is accused of ramming his sport-utility vehicle into a parked car occupied by Robert and Nancy Norman of Liberty in the Giant Eagle parking lot on Belmont Avenue in July. After the couple got out of the car, Ciminero ran over Mrs. Norman, 43, as she lay in a nearby field, Bailey said. Mrs. Norman spent two weeks in Cleveland Metro Health Center with severe internal injuries. She is now in a local rehabilitation hospital, Bailey said. Bowers and Costanzo said their client has no prior criminal record but is addicted to drugs. Ciminero's case was sent from Girard Municipal Court to the grand jury last month. sinkovich@vindy.com